RU2683483C2 - Wireless resources control system, wireless base station, relay device, wireless resource control method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: control system; wireless communication technique.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to means of managing wireless resources. Evaluating, by a relay device, communication quality relating to communication between a content transfer device and a wireless terminal, relay device is placed on a communication channel between a wireless base station and a content transmission device which transmits content via a wireless base station to a wireless terminal. Relay device generates control information for controlling wireless resource allocation for a wireless terminal based on communication quality to inform the wireless base station of control information. Wireless base station is controlled by wireless resource allocation for wireless terminal based on control information, at that, at the stage, at which quality of communication is assessed, quality of communication is evaluated by means of at least any of the following: first quality of communication between relay device and wireless terminal and second quality of communication between content transmitting device and relay device.EFFECT: technical result consists in provision of possibility to control wireless resources for wireless terminal, which can reach required quality of communication from one to other end.13 cl, 9 dwg

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

[0001] Cross-reference to a related application

This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-247975 (filed December 8, 2014), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

This invention relates to a wireless resource management system, a wireless base station, a relay device, a wireless resource management method, and a program.

State of the art

[0002] The widespread use of smartphones and tablet terminals has rapidly increased the volume of wireless traffic, as a result of which the LTE communication standard (the standard for "long-term development of communication networks"), which implements high speed and high bandwidth, and the introduction of the LTE-Advanced standard LTE-A) supporting even higher speeds. The LTE / LTE-A mobile communication network includes a mobile access network (eUTRAN (Advanced Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network)) and a mobile core network (EPC (Advanced Packet Switching Core)).

[0003] An EUTRAN network includes a wireless base station (eNB (Advanced Node B)) and a wireless terminal (User Equipment (UE)).

[0004] An EPC network includes a P-GW (Packet Network Gateway (PDN)) for connecting to an external network such as the Internet, and an S-GW (Serving Gateway) processing the U-plane (user plane) of user data .

[0005] An LTE / LTE-A mobile communication network uses a packet switching system that can flexibly allocate bandwidth in terms of improving frequency efficiency, etc. In the LTE / LTE-A standard, a voice message is also transmitted in the form of packets as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

[0006] A packet sent from a content transfer apparatus that provides various communication services for a wireless terminal typically arrives via the Internet to a mobile core network, which transmits the packet to a wireless terminal via a mobile access network. An example of a content device is, for example, at least one device from a WWW server (Internet), FTP server (file transfer protocol), mail server, file server, database server, application server, streaming server, DNS server (system domain names), etc., etc. As a content transfer device for one wireless terminal, another wireless terminal may be provided that is different from one wireless terminal.

[0007] The mechanism that controls the QoS (quality of service) of a network is called QoS management. In the LTE system, a QCI identifier (QoS class identifier) is defined in nine steps for the respective service types as a parameter that controls QoS. For example, the presence of a guaranteed bandwidth (GBR (guaranteed bit rate: guaranteed bandwidth) or lack of GBR (not guaranteed bandwidth)), priority, acceptable delay time (PDB (packet delay budget)), packet loss rate, and t .d. can be identified by the QCI. In the LTE standard, the S-GW gateway, the P-GW gateway, and the wireless base station (eNodeB node) perform QoS control in accordance with the QCI value reported from the PCRF object (a policy function and cost accounting rules that determines the QCI value for the unidirectional channel, packet transfer or discard policy and resource accounting management).

[0008] In an LTE mobile communication network, a unidirectional channel is set for each wireless terminal and for each QCI. In particular, the unidirectional radio access channel (eRAB, unidirectional radio access channel of the E-UTRAN network) and the unidirectional channel S5 / S8 are included in the unidirectional EPS channel (advanced packet transmission system), which is installed in the LTE mobile communication network. Meanwhile, the unidirectional radio access channel (e-RAB) includes a wireless unidirectional channel that is installed between the wireless terminal (user equipment) and the wireless base station (eNodeB), and a unidirectional channel S1 installed between the wireless base station (eNodeB) and S-GW gateway. In addition, a S5 / S8 bearer is installed between the P-GW and the S-GW and, for example, has a GTP tunnel (GPRS tunneling protocol (public packet radio).

[0009] The wireless base station scheduler controls the allocation of the wireless resource for each wireless terminal or each unidirectional channel, taking into account the QCI for each unidirectional channel (non-patent literature 1). In particular, the scheduler of the wireless base station determines when and how much wireless resource and to which wireless terminal or which unidirectional channel is allocated. A wireless resource may include, for example, a frequency resource, a time resource, a physical resource block, transmit power, a component carrier, etc.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a table defining a QCI identifier in the LTE standard (reference may be made to "Table 6.1.7: Standardized QCI characteristics" (Table 6.1.7: Standardized QCI identifier characteristics ") in non-patent literature 1). According to Fig. 1, service types are illustrated, such as QCI = 1, which is voice communication, QCI = 8, which is video information and services based on the TCP protocol (data transfer control protocol). For example, when the first wireless terminal is waiting to receive a packet, QCI = 1, and a second wireless terminal Gide receiving QCI = 8 package, which has a low priority, the wireless base station may first transmit a packet to the first wireless terminal with the QCI identifier as the first wireless terminal expects a high priority packet.

[0011] In accordance with the method disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the wireless base station identifies the type of traffic of a packet that has arrived at it from the mobile core network and sets a valid delay time and a target transmission rate in accordance with the identified type of traffic. The wireless base station controls the distribution of the wireless resource for each packet to achieve an acceptable delay and target transmission rate. For example, when the transmission rate of a particular communication, as measured by the wireless base station, does not reach the target transmission rate prescribed by the type of communication traffic, the priority of allocating a wireless resource for communication increases.

[0012] Patent literature 2 discloses a structure that provides the ability to dynamically change the amount of wireless resource allocated to each of a plurality of mobile communication systems with different communication schemes. In patent literature 2, there is a description that there is no need for significant application upgrades in the control device of the base station of the existing system and in the base station device of the new system on the network side. Patent Literature 3 discloses a structure in which a communication type information collection unit is provided in a wireless base station. The communication type information collection unit collects communication type information, recognizing the type of communication with each wireless terminal, and provides communication type information to the wireless base station control unit. The communication type information collecting unit classifies the communication type information as one type of communication (T1) in which, for example, a property is required for real-time operation, for example, for voice communication or streaming, and another type of communication (T2), in which performs data transfer, for example, browsing the Internet, and supplies a classified type of communication to the control unit of the wireless base station. The wireless base station control unit controls the allocation of wireless resource blocks for a plurality of wireless terminals at each predetermined time based on the propagation loss measured by the propagation loss measurement unit, the difference information collected by the difference information collection unit, and the type of communication information collected by the collection unit information about the type of communication and the speed collection unit of the wireless base station, and transmits the result to the corresponding wireless terminal Erez wireless unit of a wireless base station.

[0013] According to the method disclosed in non-patent literature 2, the server collects user perception quality information (QoE (perception quality)), and the network controller controls the Wi-Fi access point (AP) ("wireless authenticity": registered trade Wi-Fi Alliance brand) using the collected QoE information.

[0014] In the following description, Quality of Service (QoS), such as packet delay or packet loss rate, and User Perception Quality (QoE) indicating quality perceived by the user are collectively referred to simply as “communication quality”.

[0015] [Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent No. 4335619

[Patent Literature 2] Published Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. JP-2012-005059A

[Patent Literature 3] Published Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. JP-2011-097286A

[0016] [Non-Patent Literature 1] 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) TS23.203 v11.13.0 (2014-03), Policy and charging control architecture, p.38

[Non-Patent Literature 2] Aruba NETWROKS Inc., SOLUTION GUIDE DEPLOYING ARUBA WIRELESS CONTROLLERS WITH MICROSOFT LYNC SDN API, pp.4-5, [September 25. 2014], Internet <URL

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

 [0017] The following is an analysis of prior art technologies.

[0018] There is a discrepancy between the communication quality of the mobile access network between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal and the communication quality between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal (that is, from one end to the other). Thus, a packet passing between a content transfer device and a wireless terminal typically passes through many networks. Thus, degradation of communication quality in some networks affects the quality of user experience in a wireless terminal. Therefore, a simple assessment of the communication quality of a limited section between a wireless base station and a wireless terminal cannot provide a correct assessment of communication quality from one end to the other.

[0019] Therefore, it is possible that the desired quality from one end to the other cannot be achieved in the communication quality estimation scheme between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal (eg, patent literature 1), even if the distribution of the wireless resource is controlled by evaluating the communication quality on criteria based on the type of traffic or QCI.

[0020] As a method for controlling the allocation of a wireless resource based on communication quality from one end to another, there is a method that collects communication quality data from one end to the other from a wireless terminal or content transfer device (for example, non-patent literature 2).

[0021] However, when collecting non-standard information through the aforementioned method, software or hardware upgrades are required in the wireless terminal and the content transfer device. Therefore, implementation costs are high.

[0022] Furthermore, when information is collected from the wireless terminal, as in the case of non-patent literature 2, it is disturbing that the signal load of the wireless section is increasing, as well as the fact that the battery power consumption of the wireless terminal is increasing.

[0023] Thus, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems. The main objective of the present invention is to provide a system, method, device and recording medium storing a program implementing wireless resource management for a wireless terminal that can achieve the desired communication quality from one end to the other.

 [0024] In a first aspect of the present invention, a wireless resource management system is provided, comprising: a content transmitting device; wireless terminal; a wireless base station that receives data transmitted from the content transfer device and wirelessly transmits data to the wireless terminal; and a relay device located on the communication channel between the content transfer device and the wireless base station, wherein the relay device includes: a communication quality assessment unit that evaluates communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal; and a control information generating unit that generates control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the communication quality, the wireless base station comprising: a wireless resource control unit that controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the control information.

[0025] In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a relay device arranged on a communication channel between a content transfer device that transmits content via a wireless base station to a wireless terminal and a wireless base station, the relay device comprises: a communication quality assessment unit that evaluates communication quality relating to communication between a content transfer apparatus and a wireless terminal; a control information generation unit that generates control information for controlling a distribution of a wireless resource of a wireless base station for a wireless terminal based on communication quality; and a communication unit that reports control information to the wireless base station.

[0026] In yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wireless base station that wirelessly transmits data transmitted from a content transfer device to a wireless terminal, the wireless base station comprises: a wireless resource control unit that receives control information based on a communication quality assessment result relating to communication between a content transferring device and a wireless terminal from a relay device located on a communication channel between the transmission device content delivery and a wireless base station, and which controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on control information.

[0027] In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing wireless resources, comprising:

evaluating, by the relay device, communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal, the relay device is located on a communication channel between the wireless base station and the content transfer device that transmits content via the wireless base station to the wireless terminal; and

generating, by the relay device, control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the communication quality to report control information of the wireless base station; and

controlling, by the wireless base station, the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on control information.

[0028] In yet another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable recording medium is provided that stores a program that causes a computer, which is a relay device, located on a communication channel between a wireless base station and a content transfer device that transmits content via a wireless base station to a wireless terminal , execute a process containing:

communication quality assessment related to communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal; and

generating control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource of the wireless base station for the wireless terminal.

[0029] In yet another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable recording medium is provided that stores a program that causes a computer, which is a wireless base station, to execute a process comprising:

receiving control information based on a communication quality assessment result related to communication between the wireless terminal and the content transfer apparatus that transmits content via the wireless base station to the wireless terminal, and controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the control information.

[0030] A recording medium in accordance with each of the above aspects includes a non-volatile computer-readable recording medium (such as a semiconductor memory, magnetic / optical storage medium, etc.

[0031] In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to implement wireless resource management for a wireless terminal to achieve the desired communication quality from one end to the other.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, together with the accompanying drawings, in which only illustrative embodiments of the invention are shown and described by merely illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention. As will be understood, the invention may have various other embodiments, and some of its details may be modified in various obvious respects without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as limiting.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0032] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a list of QCI identifier specifications in LTE in tabular form.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a system structure common to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a wireless base station and a relay device in a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a wireless base station and a relay device in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a wireless base station and a relay device in a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a wireless base station and a relay device in a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed description

[0033] Illustrative embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each of the drawings, the same reference numbers are used to indicate the same or corresponding elements, and the matching description will be omitted accordingly.

[0034] <Illustrative embodiment>

(Description for system structure)

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example structure of a wireless resource management system 1 common to each of the illustrative embodiments of the present invention. According to FIG. 2, the wireless resource management system 1 includes a content transfer device 10, a wireless base station 20, a wireless terminal 30, and a relay device 40.

[0035] The content transfer device 10 provides various communication services to the wireless terminal 30. The content transfer device 10 may be a WWW server (Internet), an FTP server (file transfer protocol), a mail server, a file server, a database server, an application server, a server streaming, DNS server (domain name system), etc. In addition, when the wireless terminal 30 sends content to another wireless terminal (not shown), the wireless terminal 30 itself may be a content transfer device for another wireless communication.

[0036] The wireless base station 20 forms a wireless cell (not shown) that represents a region (region) in which wireless communication with the wireless base station 20 is possible. The wireless base station 20 performs bidirectional wireless communication with a wireless terminal 30 that connects to a wireless cell controlled by a wireless base station 20. For example, from one to about six wireless cells are controlled by one wireless base station 20. Wireless base station 20 ene, with relay traffic between the mobile core network and mobile access network. It should be noted that the wireless base station 20 may be any of a wireless macro base station covering a wide area, a wireless micro base station and a wireless pico base station that cover a relatively narrow area of a wireless femto base station that is small a wireless station for indoor use; and a relay base station relaying a wireless signal.

[0037] The wireless terminal 30 is a terminal equipped with a function for performing a wireless connection to a mobile communication network. The wireless terminal 30 may be any device from a traditional mobile phone, smartphone, tablet terminal, laptop, one of various types of touch devices and machine communication devices (MTC). In addition, a wireless system that can be used by the wireless terminal 30 is not always limited to one system. Wireless terminal 30 may support multiple wireless systems. For example, the wireless terminal 30 can support many wireless systems of radio access technology (RAT), including LTE, LTE-Advanced, UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system), GSM (global system for mobile communications: GSM is a registered trademark of the GSM MOU Association ), Wi-Fi (“wireless authenticity”: Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance), local area network, WiMAX (microwave broadband), CDMA (code division multiple access) 2000 (CDMA2000 - registered trademark TIA brand (Telecommunications Industry Association)), HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), etc.

[0038] The relay device 40 is located on a communication channel between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless base station 20. The relay device 40 is equipped with a traffic relay function between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless base station 20. The relay device 40 can be located either on the mobile base network , or on an external network (for example, on the Internet).

[0039] When the relay device 40 is hosted in the mobile core network, the relay device 40 may be functionally hosted as part of another device in the mobile core network, or the relay device 40 may be hosted as an independent device (stand-alone unit). When, for example, the relay device 40 is located in the LTE mobile core network, the P-SW gateway or the S-GW gateway can function as the relay device 40 (namely, the function of the relay device 40 can be implemented in the P-GW gateway or the S-GW gateway .) As another example, when a traffic control device controlling a traffic flow rate is located in a mobile core network, the traffic control device may be a relay device 40.

[0040] It should be noted that the relay device 40 and the wireless base station 20 need not be directly connected. The relay device 40 may be connected to the wireless base station 20 through another relay device (s) or other network (s) (not shown).

[0041] Similarly, the relay device 40 and the content transfer device 10 need not be directly connected. The relay device 40 may be connected to the content transfer device 10 through another relay device (s) or other network (s) (not shown).

[0042] The relay device 40 evaluates communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30, generates control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30, and reports the generated control information to the wireless base station 20.

[0043] <First illustrative embodiment>

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of each structure of a wireless base station 20 and a relay device 40 related to the wireless resource management system 1 described with reference to FIG. 2. It should be noted that since existing devices can be used, as they are, as the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30, both of which are also known to those skilled in the art, diagrams illustrating their detailed structures and corresponding description will be omitted.

[0044] Referring to FIG. 3, the wireless resource management system 1 includes a content transfer device 10, a wireless base station 20 that receives data (packet) transmitted from the content transfer device 10, and transmits data wirelessly to the wireless terminal 30, and the relay device 40 located on a communication channel between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless base station 30. The relay device 40 includes a communication quality estimator 402 that evaluates communication quality related to communication between the device Twomey 10 transmit the content and the wireless terminal 30 and the unit 403 forming the control information, which generates control information for controlling radio resource allocation for the wireless terminal 30 based on the communication quality. The wireless base station 20 includes a wireless resource management unit 201 that controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 based on control information transmitted from the relay device 40.

[0045] In the relay device 40, the communication quality estimator 402 can evaluate the communication quality related to the communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 using at least one of the first communication quality between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30 and the second communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40. Alternatively, the communication quality estimator 402 may evaluate the communication quality related to the communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 by calculating a third communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 using both of the first and second communication qualities. As described above, the communication quality assessment unit 402 preferably evaluates the communication quality of the communication channel including at least a portion of the communication channel between the wireless base station 20 and the content transfer device 10.

[0046] An example of a method (procedure) for managing wireless resources in the wireless resource management system 1 of the present embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0047] In the relay device 40, the communication quality estimator 402 evaluates communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminals 30, and generates control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 based on the communication quality.

[0048] In the wireless base station 20, the wireless resource management unit 201 controls the distribution of the wireless resource based on control information generated in the relay device 40. It should be noted that a wireless resource can be, for example, at least any element of a group consisting of a frequency resource, a temporary resource, a physical resource block, transmit power, a component carrier, etc., in a section of a mobile access network (wireless section )

[0049] It should be noted that the number of wireless terminals 30 connected to the wireless base station 20 is not limited to one. The number of wireless terminals 30, of course, may be two or more. In this case, the wireless resource management unit 201 can control which of the plurality of wireless terminals 30 and when and how much of the wireless resource is allocated. For example, the wireless resource management unit 201 may prioritize the distribution of the wireless resource for a given wireless terminal 30 based on control information reported from the relay device 40. Or, the wireless resource management unit 201 may prioritize the allocation of the wireless resource for a given unidirectional channel in the case where the wireless terminal 30 establishes a plurality of unidirectional channels.

[0050] FIG. 3, the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 may perform at least part of its function and processing by means of a program (stored in memory, etc., not shown) executed by a controller or processor (central processing unit, CPU; CPU, not shown , which is installed in the wireless base station 20. Similarly, the communication quality assessment unit 402 and the control information generating unit 403 of the relay device 40 can perform part of their function and processing through a program (save memory, etc., not shown) executed by a controller or processor (CPU), not shown, which is installed in the relay device 40. The same can be applied to the corresponding blocks of the relay device 40 and the wireless base station 20 in the described the second, fourth to fourth embodiments below.

[0051] In accordance with the present embodiment, the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 is controlled based on a communication quality assessment result related to the communication between the content transfer apparatus 10 and the wireless terminal 30, and thereby the wireless resource management for the wireless terminal 30 is implemented. to achieve the required quality of communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30.

[0052] <Second illustrative embodiment>

Further, with respect to the wireless resource management system 1 illustrated in FIG. 2, another example of the structure of the wireless base station 20 and the relay device 40 will be described. It should be noted that since the existing devices can be used as they are, as the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30, both of which are also known to those skilled in the art, drawings illustrating their detailed structures and corresponding description will be omitted.

[0053] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example structure of a wireless base station 20 and a relay device. According to FIG. 4, the wireless base station 20 includes a communication unit 200 and a wireless resource management unit 201.

[0054] In the wireless base station 20, the communication unit 200 provides the basic function of the wireless base station 20. For example, the communication unit 200 has functions such as relaying traffic between the mobile core network and the mobile access network, and transmitting and receiving wireless signals between the wireless terminal 30 and wireless base station 20. It should be noted that since the function provided in the communication unit 200 of the wireless base station 20 is known to those skilled in the art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0055] The wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 using control information communicated from the relay device 40. A wireless resource may include, for example, at least any element of a group consisting of:

- frequency resource;

- temporary resource;

- physical resource block;

- transmission power;

- component carrier, etc.

in a mobile access network section (wireless section).

[0056] It should be noted that the number of wireless terminals 30 connected to the wireless base station 20 is not limited to one. The number of wireless terminals 30, of course, may be more than one. In this case, the wireless resource management unit 201 can control which of the plurality of wireless terminals 30 and when and how much of the wireless resource should be allocated. For example, the wireless resource management unit 201 may prioritize the distribution of the wireless resource for a given wireless terminal 30 based on control information reported from the relay device 40. Or, the wireless resource management unit 201 may prioritize the allocation of the wireless resource for a given unidirectional channel in the case where the wireless terminal 30 establishes a plurality of unidirectional channels.

[0057] The relay device 40 includes a communication unit 400, a communication type identification unit 401, a communication quality assessment unit 402, and a control information generating unit 403.

[0058] The communication unit 200 has a traffic control function between the content transfer apparatus 10 and the wireless base station 20.

[0059] It should be noted that the relay device 40 and the content transfer device 10 need not be directly connected, and the relay device 40 and the wireless base station 20 need not have a direct connection, but another relay device (s) or another network (networks) ) can be provided between them. When the P-GW gateway or the S-GW gateway, which are a component of the LTE system’s mobile backbone, traffic control devices and the like are used as the relay device 40, the communication unit 400 of the relay device 400 has the functions provided by these devices.

[0060] The communication type identification unit 401 of the relay device 40 monitors the communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 to identify the type of communication. In particular, the communication type identification unit 401 is configured to identify the type of communication by analyzing the packet, for example, by using the Advanced Packet Check (DPI) function and the like.

[0061] Here, the DPI check refers to a function for reading (checking) a payload (data portion) of a packet to collect information on a higher layer (for example, a TCP header of a layer higher than the IP layer is located in the IP payload section -package).

[0062] It should be noted that “communication type identification” also includes collecting communication type data identified by a device other than the relay device 40 via a communication line. A communication type identification unit 401 may be located in the wireless base station 20.

[0063] It should be noted that the type of communication includes, for example, at least any of the following information elements:

- type of application (e.g. voice call, video call, voice streaming, video streaming, email, SMS (short message service), MMS (multimedia messaging service), chat, web browser, FTP, game, etc. d.);

- app name;

- a protocol (e.g., a session layer protocol (e.g., HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), FTP, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), H.323, etc.), and a transport layer protocol ( e.g. TCP, UDP (user datagram protocol), SSL (secure connection protocol), IPSec (security architecture for the Internet protocol), etc.);

- IP address (Internet protocol address) or port number of the content transfer device 10 and / or the wireless terminal 30; and

- QCI identifier assigned in the mobile core network.

[0064] The communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40 evaluates communication quality related to communication between the content transmission device 10 and the wireless terminal 30. The communication quality evaluated by the communication quality evaluation unit 402 may be the communication quality between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30 (first call quality).

[0065] The communication quality evaluated by the communication quality estimator 402 may be the communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40 (second communication quality). Alternatively, a communication quality that is estimated for a communication channel including at least a portion of a "section communication channel, excluding a mobile access network section (wireless section) between the wireless base station 20 and the wireless terminal 30 (i.e., the channel communication between the wireless base station 20 and the content transfer device 10) from the communication channel from one end to the other, which connects the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30, can be used as the communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30.

[0066] The communication quality assessment unit 402 can calculate the communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 (communication quality from one end to the other) using the communication quality between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30 and the communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and wireless terminal 30.

[0067] A communication quality metric may include, for example, at least one of the following elements:

- packet delay (delay in one direction or RTT (transit time of the signal in both directions);

- variation of packet delay;

- packet loss rate (or the number of packet losses);

- packet error rate (or number of packet errors);

- the frequency of changing the sequence of packets (or the number of cases of changing the sequence of packets);

- packet transfer rate;

- frequency of packet retransmission (or the number of packet retransmission cases); etc.

A new indicator of the quality of communication can also be determined through an arbitrary combination of the above indicators.

[0068] The communication quality assessment unit 402 may evaluate the quality of the communication using such means as DPI checking (in-depth packet inspection).

[0069] Or, the communication quality assessment unit 402 may be provided with a function for terminating a protocol that terminates from one end to the other (for example, TCP) in the relay device 40 for evaluating communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal thirty.

[0070] For example, when a packet transmitted from the content transfer device 10 arrives at the relay device 40, from which the packet is transmitted to the wireless base station 20, the communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40 using the DPI check identifies and writes information to the storage device ( referred to as “downlink accompanying information”), for example:

- IP address (IP header) of the source (content transfer device 10);

- port number (for example, TCP header) of the source (content transfer device 10);

- IP address (IP header) of the recipient (wireless terminal 30);

- port number (for example, TCP header) of the receiver (wireless terminal 30);

- serial number of the packet (for example, TCP header);

- packet arrival time to relay device 40; etc.

[0071] This is also called packet health check (SPI), during which the IP network equipment checks (not in-depth, but surface scan) the header of the TCP or UDP protocol (User Datagram Protocol), which is a higher level of the IP layer (check The SPI monitors the communication situation in the network and checks to see if the communication is working properly). It should be noted that the TCP packet is included in the IP packet payload, the TCP header following the IP header (20 bytes without any options) has 20 bytes + options (several of 4 bytes each). The UDP header (source port, destination port number, UDP packet length, and checksum) included in the IP packet payload has 8 bytes.

[0072] Further, when a response packet (for example, an ACK acknowledgment packet or a NACK negative acknowledgment that is not used in the TCP protocol) from the wireless terminal 30 for the packet transmitted to the wireless terminal 30 is transmitted to the relay device 40 and transmitted to the content transfer device 10, the communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40 using the DPI check identifies and writes to the storage device response packet information (called “downlink accompanying information”) in including elements such as

- IP address of the source (wireless terminal 30);

- source port number (wireless terminal 30);

- IP address (IP header) of the recipient (content transfer device 10);

- recipient port number (content transfer device 10);

- packet arrival time to relay device 40;

- the sequence number of the packet, which further requires the wireless terminal 30; etc.

[0073] The following describes an example of packet delay estimation as an example of communication quality assessment.

[0074] In the relay device 40, the communication estimator 402 is configured to estimate a round trip time (RTT) of the packet between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30 by linking the downlink accompanying information to the uplink accompanying information and analyzing the time difference between the packet arrival time from the wireless terminal 30 to the relay device 40 and the packet arrival time from the content transfer device 10 to the relay device 40 yats. The delay time of a packet in one direction can be determined, for example, by dividing the signal travel time in both directions (RTT) by 2.

[0075] Alternatively, the communication quality estimator 402 may determine the "one-way delay from the relay device 40 to the wireless terminal 30" and determine the "one-way delay from the wireless terminal 30 to the relay device 40" using the ratio of the packet rate from the relay device 40 to the wireless terminal 30 “to” the packet rate from the wireless terminal 30 to the relay device 40 ”.

[0076] The following describes a case in which, based on measurement values (or empirically known), it was found that the "packet rate from the relay device 40 to the wireless terminal 30" is, for example, twice the "packet rate from the wireless terminal 30 to the device 40 Relays. "

[0077] In this case, on the assumption that the round-trip time (RTT) of the packets between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30 is 300 ms (milliseconds), the communication quality estimation unit 402 by dividing the RTT time by 1: 2 may reveal that

"the delay in one direction from the relay device 40 to the wireless terminal 30" is 100 ms, and

The “one-way delay from the wireless terminal 30 to the relay device 40” is 200 ms.

[0078] The following describes an example of estimating a packet retransmission rate as another example of evaluating communication quality.

[0079] The communication estimator 402 of the relay device 40 may, using the accompanying downlink information, estimate the packet retransmission rate from the relay device 40 to the wireless terminal 30 by analyzing the number of packet transmissions with a TCP header having the same sequence number (a predetermined value is added each time when the packet is received), from packets that have the same:

- IP address of the source (content transfer device 10);

- source port number (content transfer device 10);

- IP address of the recipient (wireless terminal 30); and

- receiver port number (wireless terminal 30).

[0080] The following describes an example of packet rate estimation as an additional example of communication quality assessment.

[0081] The communication quality assessment unit 40 of the relay device 40 may, using the accompanying downlink information, estimate the transmission rate of packets from the relay device 40 to the wireless terminal 30 by analyzing the number of packet transmissions per unit time for packets that have the same:

- IP address of the source (content transfer device 10);

- source port number (content transfer device 10);

- IP address of the recipient (wireless terminal 30); and

- receiver port number (wireless terminal 30).

[0082] As an example of evaluating additional communication quality, an example of estimating packet loss rate and packet change rate is described below.

[0083] In TCP, the occurrence of packet loss and a change in the packet arrival order can be detected by the sequence number (a predefined value added each time a packet is received) in the TCP header. The occurrence of packet loss and a change in the packet arrival order can be detected by the sequence number (predefined value added each time a packet is received) of the RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol) header (UDP packet payload (User Datagram Protocol) payload). The packet loss rate is the frequency of packet loss on the communication channel. The packet reordering rate is the frequency of occurrence of the reordering of packets.

[0084] It should be noted that the relay device 40 may be equipped without a DPI function to obtain information of an additional higher level when the relay device 40 has a function sufficient in advance to identify the type of communication and evaluate the quality of the communication.

[0085] For example, the P-GW has an IP layer termination function and can read an IP header. The IP header contains an 8-bit numeric protocol field for storing a number indicating the type of transport layer protocol, which is the higher level of the IP protocol. Therefore, the P-GW gateway can identify the type of communication based on the protocol numeric field information in the IP header when, for example, the relay device 40 is a P-GW gateway and the “protocol” is used as an information element for determining the type of communication. In addition, the relay device 40, constructed as a P-GW gateway, can evaluate the communication quality based on the IP address (source IP address and destination IP address), etc. IP header through a method similar to that described above.

[0086] In the above examples, there are illustrated evaluation examples in which the communication quality evaluation unit 402 evaluates the communication quality between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30. However, the present embodiment is, of course, not limited to the example described above.

[0087] For example, the relay device 40 may evaluate the quality of communication between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40 using a method similar to that described above, in which the relay device 40 evaluates information obtained when the relay device 40 uses a packet transmitted from the wireless terminal 30 to the content transfer device 10, relays the packet to the content transfer device 10 as accompanying downlink information, and regards the information received when the relay structure 40 receives the response packet for the corresponding packet from the content transfer device 10 and relays the response packet to the base station 20 as uplink accompanying information.

[0088] In the above example, such a method is described as a method in which the communication quality between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30 and the communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40 is evaluated by analyzing (using) a packet passing between the transmission device 10 content and the wireless terminal 30. However, the embodiment is not limited in this way. For example, a specialized packet may be transmitted from the relay device 40 to the wireless terminal 30 to evaluate the quality of communication between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30.

[0089] A dedicated packet may also be transmitted from the relay device 40 to the content transfer device 10 to evaluate the quality of communication between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40.

[0090] When evaluating the quality of communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 (communication quality from one end to the other) as described above, the communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40 can accordingly evaluate:

- the quality of communication between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30, and

- the quality of communication between the device 10 for transmitting content and the relay device 40,

and can combine the quality of communication, each of which is evaluated for each of the sections.

[0091] For example, in the case of communication quality representing packet delay, the communication quality estimation unit 403 of the relay device 40 may calculate the sum of the packet delays estimated in the respective sections.

[0092] For example, in the case of a communication quality representing a transmission rate, the communication quality evaluation unit 403 of the relay device 40 may determine a lower value from the packet rates estimated in the respective sections.

[0093] Furthermore, the communication quality evaluation unit 403 of the relay device 40 can evaluate only one of the communication quality between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30 and the communication quality between the content transmission device 10 and the relay device 40, on the assumption that the different communication quality, which has not been evaluated, takes a fixed value.

[0094] In this case, the communication estimator 402 can evaluate the communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 (communication quality from one end to the other using “estimated communication quality” and “estimated fixed value.” It should be noted that the fixed the value may be, as an example, a statistical value (e.g., average value, median value, maximum value, minimum value, etc.) of the communication quality of the corresponding communication channel (communication channel between three relay stations 40 and a wireless terminal 30, a communication channel between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40, etc.).

[0095] The control information generating unit 403 of the relay device 40 generates control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 and reports the generated control information to the wireless base station 20.

[0096] The control information generating unit 403 of the relay device 40 generates control information including, for example, at least one of the following elements:

- communication quality evaluated by block 402 communication quality assessment;

- the result of the comparison between the quality of communication evaluated by block 402 evaluating the quality of communication, and the required quality;

- the target value of the quality of communication between the wireless base station 20 and the wireless terminal 30;

- the priority of the distribution of the wireless resource;

- identifier of the wireless terminal or unidirectional channel; etc.,

and reports the generated control information to the wireless base station 20.

[0097] The relay device 40 may report control information to the wireless base station 20, for example, by recording control information in part of a packet transmitted from the content transfer device 10 to the wireless terminal 30.

[0098] In particular, the control information generating unit 403 of the relay apparatus 40 may use the unused IP header area in a packet transmitted from the content transmitting apparatus 10 to the wireless terminal 30 as a recording field for control information. For example, the following fields included in the IP header (IPv4 protocol header, etc.) can be used:

- reserved bits of the TOS field (type of service);

- reserved bits of the DS field (differentiated services);

- field of options;

- field of filling; etc.

[0099] The TOS field (type of service) is in bits 9 through 16 (8 bits). The TOS field includes the first 3 bits (priority), defining the priority of the transmission, 4 bits, defining a condition related to delay, bandwidth, reliability and cost, and an unused one bit. In the DS (Differentiated Services) field, the transmission priority is set to the first 6 bits (Differentiated Services Code Point: DSCP), and the remaining 2 bits represent an unused area.

[0100] The length of the options field is uncertain, and the options field is usually populated with a padding field such that the IP header is a multiple of 4 bytes.

[0101] A specialized packet that is independent of a packet transmitted from the content transmitting device 10 to the wireless terminal 30 may be generated by the relay device 40, and the relay device 40 may report control information to the wireless base station 20 using the generated specialized packet.

[0102] The transmission of the control information message from the relay device 40 to the wireless base station 20 may be performed, for example:

- at times when the relay device 40 receives a packet from the content transfer device 10 or the wireless terminal 30;

- at time points of transmission of a packet from the content transfer device 10 to the wireless base station 20;

- periodically (for example, every 10 ms, 100 ms, 1 s, 10 s, etc.); or

- at arbitrary points in time.

The relay device 40 does not always have to report control information at the above points in time for the message. The relay device 40 may report control information to the wireless base station 20, for example, based on a request from the wireless base station 20, when the wireless base station 20 determines that it is necessary to control the allocation of the wireless resource.

[0103] (Description of the principle of operation)

The following describes a specific example of wireless resource management processing by the wireless resource management system 1 in accordance with the present embodiment with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 5.

[0104] The wireless resource management process starts when a relay device 40 detects a connection between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30. The communication type identification unit 401 of the relay device 40 identifies the type of communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 (step S100).

[0105] Then, the communication quality estimation unit 402 of the relay apparatus 40 evaluates the communication quality related to the communication between the content transfer apparatus 10 and the wireless terminal 30 (step S101).

[0106] The control information generating unit 403 of the relay apparatus 40 generates control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 and reports control information to the wireless base station 20 (step S102).

[0107] The wireless resource control unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 using the notified control information when the control information reported from the relay device 40 is received (step S103).

[0108] (Example 1)

The following describes a specific example (Example 1) of an embodiment described with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. In Example 1, the relay device 40 generates control information as to whether the communication quality related to the communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 matches the required quality specified by the type of communication.

[0109] Then, the wireless base station 30 controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 using control information.

[0110] A specific example of the principle of operation will be described in the context of FIG. 5.

[0111] In step S100 in FIG. 5, the communication type identification unit 401 of the relay device 40 analyzes the packet transmitted by the relay device 40 using a means such as DPI verification and identifies, for example, a QCI as the communication type. Here, it is assumed that QCI = 6 (video (buffered streaming)) is identified in the QCI identifier table illustrated in FIG. one.

[0112] It should be noted that identifying a QCI as a communication type is just one example. As described above, the application type, application name, protocol, IP address, port number, etc. can be identified as the communication type.

[0113] In step S101 of FIG. 5, the communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40 analyzes the packet transmitted by the relay device 40 using a means such as DPI checking and evaluates the quality of the communication between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30.

[0114] In particular, since packet delay (packet delay budget in FIG. 1) and packet loss rate (packet loss frequency in FIG. 1) are defined as the required quality for each QCI, as illustrated in FIG. 1, evaluation unit 402 communication quality estimates packet delay and packet loss rate from relay device 40 to wireless terminal 3.

[0115] It should be noted that evaluating the communication quality between the relay device 40 and the wireless terminal 30 as the communication quality related to the communication between the content transmitting device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 is just an example. As described above, the communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40 or the communication quality between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 (communication quality from one end to the other) can be evaluated.

[0116] In step S102 in FIG. 5, the control information generation unit 403 of the relay device 40 determines whether the communication quality estimated by the communication quality evaluation unit 402 corresponds to the required quality and generates control information.

[0117] In particular, the control information generating unit 403 of the relay device 40 can generate, for example, at least one of the following information elements as control information:

- binary information indicating whether the estimated communication quality is consistent with the required quality;

- information indicating the difference between the assessed communication quality and the required quality;

- an indicator with several stages, each stage indicates the degree to which the estimated quality of communication does not correspond to the required quality;

- an indicator with several stages, each stage indicates with what tolerance the estimated quality of communication can correspond to the required quality; etc.

[0118] Here, a case will be described in which it is assumed that

- the type of communication is identified as identifier QCI = 6, and

- binary information (one bit) indicating whether the communication quality corresponds to the required quality is formed as control information by the relay device 40, which reports information to the wireless base station 20.

[0119] When the communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40 performs an assessment:

- the packet delay should be 500 ms (milliseconds); and

- packet loss rate should be 0.00001% (0.000001 = 10E-7),

the packet delay mentioned above does not correspond to 300 ms, which is the required quality for packet delay. Therefore, the control information generating unit 403 sets the control information, for example, as “1 (violation of the required quality)”.

[0120] On the other hand, when the communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40 performs an assessment:

- packet delay should be 100 ms, and

- packet loss rate should be 0.00001% (0.0000001 = 10E-7),

and packet delay and packet loss rate correspond to the required quality. Therefore, the control information generating unit 403 sets the control information, for example, as “0 (satisfaction of the required quality)”.

[0121] In this case, it is sufficient if there is a data volume of one bit for reporting control information from the relay device 40 to the wireless base station 20.

[0122] As another example, the control information generating unit 403 of the relay device 40 can also generate an indicator with several stages as control information, each of which indicates that the estimated communication quality corresponds to the required quality, and the degree to which the estimated communication quality does not match the required quality, and the control information generating unit 403 reports the control information of the wireless base station 20. For example, an indicator with 4 stages (for example, in binary terms " 00 "," 01 "," 10 "and" 11 ") can be defined as follows:

- the estimated communication quality corresponds to the required quality (0);

- the estimated communication quality slightly violates the required quality (1);

- the assessed communication quality moderately violates the required quality (2); and

- the estimated quality of communication greatly violates the required quality (3).

In this case, it is sufficient if there is a data volume of two bits for reporting control information from the relay device 40 to the wireless base station 20.

[0123] The relay device 40 may report the control information of the wireless base station 20 so that the control information is included in a packet transmitted from the content transfer device 10 to the wireless terminal 30. In particular, the relay device 40 can communicate the control information of the wireless base station 20 with so that control information is included in the packet that belongs to the stream (identical IP address and port number), identical to the evaluated packet. For example, as described above, the relay device 40 may communicate control information to the wireless base station 20 using “reserved bits” of the TOS field, “reserved bits” of the DS field, option fields, padding fields, etc., each of which are included in the IP -headline.

[0124] Alternatively, the relay device 40 may determine control information based on registered statistical information and the like related to an application distinguishable by type of communication, and report control information to the wireless base station 20.

[0125] In step S103 in FIG. 5, the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20, using control information received from the relay device 40, controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30.

[0126] When the control information is reported from the relay device 40 as binary information indicating whether the communication quality is of the desired quality, the wireless resource control unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 may prioritize the distribution of the wireless resource (at least one resource from a frequency resource, temporary resource, physical resource block, transmit power, component carrier, etc.) for the wireless terminal 30 or the unidirectional channel for which it was determined It is understood that the quality of communication does not correspond to the required quality, for example.

[0127] The wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 may reduce the distribution of the wireless resource (at least one resource from a frequency resource, a temporary resource, a physical resource block, transmit power, a component carrier, etc.) for the wireless terminal 30 or unidirectional channel, for which it was determined that the communication quality corresponds to the required quality.

[0128] Using the control described above by the wireless resource control unit 201 of the wireless base station 20, the desired quality can be achieved by increasing the number of wireless resource allocation for communication in which the communication quality does not match the required quality. Saving a wireless resource can be accomplished by reducing the allocated amount of a wireless resource for communication in which the quality of the communication corresponds to the required quality.

[0129] As another example, the wireless resource control unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 may calculate the priority of a wireless resource allocation M _i for communication, for example, by the following equation (1) or (2) when control information is reported from the relay device 40 as an indicator with 4 stages e.g.

- the quality of communication corresponds to the required quality (0);

- the quality of communication slightly violates the required quality (1);

- the quality of communication moderately violates the required quality (2); and

- the quality of communication greatly violates the required quality (3).

[0130] M _i = X _i + Y _k (1)

[0131] M _i = X _i * Y _k (2)

[0132] Where M _i indicates the priority of the allocation of the wireless resource for wireless terminal i (i-th wireless terminal 30) or unidirectional channel i.

[0133] X _i is the total index value for M _i , which is determined based on the characteristics of the wireless section between the wireless base station 20 and the wireless terminal i (i-th wireless terminal 30).

[0134] In particular, X _i represents a priority that is determined, for example, by a known method of maximum CIR ratio (carrier to interference ratio) or proportional equal access method.

[0135] It should be noted that the maximum CIR ratio method is a scheduling method that allocates a wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 with the best communication quality between the wireless base station 20 and the wireless terminal 30. The proportional fairness method is a method that calculates the proportion between the actual the communication quality and the average communication quality of each wireless terminal 30, for example, in each physical resource block and allocates one or more physical resource blocks for the wireless terminal 30 with the maximum proportion.

[0136] Y _k is a priority that is determined in accordance with control information communicated to the wireless base station 20 from the relay device 40. For example, when using the above equation (1) in accordance with the value k (= 0, 1, 2 and 3) of the above indicator with 4 stages, it can be established:

Y ₀ = 0.0, Y ₁ = 0.5, Y ₂ = 1.0, Y ₃ = 1.5.

[0137] When using the above equation (2), it can be established:

Y ₀ = 1.0, Y ₁ = 1.1, Y ₂ = 1.2, Y ₃ = 1.3.

[0138] It should be noted that the wireless base station 20 can calculate the information corresponding to Y _k , that is, information indicating the priority of the distribution of the wireless resource using control information communicated to it from the relay device 40. Alternatively, information indicating the priority of the distribution of the wireless resource itself may be communicated to the wireless base station 20 from the relay device 40 as control information.

[0139] As a further change, the communication type identification unit 401 of the relay device 40 may be located in the wireless base station 20, and the control information generating unit 403 of the relay device 40 may inform the wireless base station 20 of the communication quality evaluated by the communication quality evaluation unit 402 as controlling information.

[0140] In this case, the communication type identification unit 401 located in the wireless base station 20 identifies the communication type, and the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 determines whether the “communication quality estimated by the communication quality evaluation unit 402 of the relay device 40 "received from the relay device 40 as control information to the required quality prescribed by the identified type of communication.

[0141] It should be noted that a method similar to the above example can be applied as a method of managing a wireless resource in accordance with the result of determining whether the estimated communication quality meets the required quality.

[0142] (Example 2)

The following describes another example (Example 2) in accordance with the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. In Example 2, the relay device 40 reports to the wireless base station 20 a communication quality target value between the wireless base station 20 and the wireless terminal 30 as control information.

[0143] In Example 2, the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 maintains a target value of the communication quality (target quality of communication) to be achieved between the wireless base station 20 and the wireless terminal 30.

[0144] Such a target communication quality of a wireless section is generally fixed based on a statistical characteristic of the communication quality of a section located above the wireless base station 20 (for example, a communication channel between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless base station 20).

[0145] For example, when

- the target packet delay value between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 (packet delay from one end to the other) is less than or equal to 100 ms, and

- the average packet delay between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless base station 20 is 40 ms,

the target packet delay value between the wireless base station 20 and the wireless terminal 30 is set to 60 ms. The wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 controls the allocation of the wireless resource to achieve the target value.

[0146] In Example 2, the wireless base station 20 dynamically changes the target value of the communication quality of the wireless section based on the control information reported from the relay device 40 and the result of the communication quality assessment in the communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40.

[0147] The operation of step S100 in FIG. 5 in example 2 is the same as in example 1, and its description will be omitted.

[0148] In step S101 of FIG. 5, the communication quality assessment unit 402 of the relay device 40 analyzes the packet transmitted by the relay device 40 by means of a DPI check, and evaluates the quality of communication between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40. For example, the communication quality assessment unit 402 estimates the average packet delay between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40.

[0149] In step S102 in FIG. 5, the control information generating unit 403 of the relay device 40 informs the wireless base station 20 of the average packet delay between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40, which is estimated by the communication quality evaluation unit 402 as control information.

[0150] In step S103 in FIG. 5, the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 updates the target communication quality that the wireless base station 20 supports with the control information reported from the relay device 40. The wireless resource management unit 201 controls the distribution of the wireless resource.

[0151] As an illustrative case, it is assumed that the target packet delay value between the wireless base station 20 and the wireless terminal 30 is 60 ms, and this is established in the assumption that the packet delay between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40 is 10 ms.

[0152] In this case, when it is determined that the actual average packet delay between the content transfer device 10 and the relay device 40 is 20 ms, based on the control information reported from the relay device 40, the wireless base station 20 changes the supported target value (60 ms ) packet delays by 50 ms (= 60 ms - 10 ms) by adjusting (reducing) by 10 ms (= 20 ms - 10 ms), which is the difference (delay) from the pre-set value (10 ms) of packet delay between the device 10 gear con tent and relay device 40.

[0153] In the above case, the target value of the communication quality of the wireless section is calculated in the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20, but the present invention, of course, is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the target value of the communication quality of the wireless section can be calculated in the relay device 40, and the calculated result (the target value of the communication quality of the wireless section) can be reported to the wireless base station 20 as control information.

[0154] As described above, in the wireless resource management system 1 according to the present embodiment, the communication type identification unit 401 identifies the communication type, and the communication quality evaluation unit 402 of the relay device 40 evaluates the communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30. The wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 controls the allocation of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal 30 based on communication quality related to the communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30. As a result, it is possible to control the wireless resource in the wireless base station 20 to match the required quality for each type of communication from one to the other end between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30.

[0155] <Third Exemplary Embodiment>

The following describes a third embodiment with reference to the drawings.

(Description of the structure)

The structure of the wireless resource management system 1 in accordance with the present embodiment is the same as the wireless resource management system 1 described in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. 2.

[0156] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example structure of a wireless base station 20 in accordance with the present embodiment. There is a difference between the wireless base station 20 in accordance with the present embodiment and the wireless base station 20 in accordance with the second embodiment in that the wireless base station 20 in accordance with the present embodiment further includes a coverage control unit 202. The present embodiment is described below mainly with emphasis on the difference from the second embodiment, and a description of the same part will be appropriately omitted to avoid duplication.

[0157] FIG. 6, the coverage control unit 202 is equipped with a function for controlling the coverage of a wireless cell controlled by a wireless base station 20. Here, “coverage” of a wireless cell means an area in which a wireless terminal can establish a wireless communication line with a predetermined wireless quality for a wireless cell.

[0158] The predefined wireless quality is a quality in which a signal to noise ratio (SNR), a signal to noise ratio (SINR), and the like. the radio waves, for example, coming from the wireless cell of the wireless base station 20, corresponds to a predetermined value required to maintain the basic service (setting the signal wireless unidirectional channel (SRB) and collecting information transmitted through a common channel downlink (DL)).

[0159] Wireless base station 20 to

- expand;

- narrow down; or

- change form

wireless cell coverage,

controls one or more radio parameters, such as:

- transmit power of a wireless cell (e.g., maximum downlink transmit power in a wireless cell);

- the angle of the antenna of the wireless cell;

- azimuth angle of the antenna of the wireless cell; and

- directivity of the antenna of the wireless cell.

[0160] The radio parameter controlling the coverage of a wireless cell may include an offset parameter used to select a wireless cell (eg, Qoffset, which is used to compare wireless quality among wireless cells), a handover parameter, etc. The Qoffset is a parameter for selecting a wireless cell and is used as an offset for the received power of each of the neighboring wireless cells when the wireless terminal in the idle state selects a serving cell (belonging to the cell) based on the measured value of the received power of the neighboring wireless cell.

[0161] The handover parameter may include, for example, the following:

- individual cell offset (CIO);

- Threshold of event A1;

- Threshold of event A2;

- Offset event A3;

- A4 event offset;

- Threshold of event A5;

- Threshold of event B1;

- Threshold of event B2;

- Hysteresis (wireless quality hysteresis);

- Time to start (hysteresis in the direction of time: a protective time interval from the establishment of the transmission conditions for the measurement report to the transmission of the measurement report); etc.

[0162] Event A1 is an event for a measurement result report (measurement report, MR) when the wireless quality (eg, received power) of a wireless cell (serving cell) connected to the wireless terminal is above a threshold value.

Event A2 is an event for reporting a measurement result (MR) when the wireless quality (eg, received power) of a serving cell is below a threshold value.

Event A3 is an event for reporting a measurement result (MR) when the wireless quality (for example, received power) of an adjacent cell is higher than the serving cell by a predetermined amount.

Event A4 is an event for reporting a measurement result (MR) when the wireless quality (for example, received power) of an adjacent cell is above a threshold value.

Event A5 is an event for reporting a measurement result (MR) when the wireless quality (e.g., received power) of a serving cell is below threshold 1 and the wireless quality (e.g., received power) of an adjacent cell is above threshold 2.

Event B1 - an event for reporting a measurement result (MR) when the wireless quality (for example, received power) of an adjacent cell with a different radio access technology (RAT) (for example, LTE -> WCDMA (registered trademark), LTE -> GSM (registered trademark), etc.) above the threshold.

Event B2 - an event for reporting a measurement result (MR) when the wireless quality (for example, received power) of a serving cell is below threshold 1 and the wireless quality (i.e., received power) of an adjacent cell with another radio access technology is above threshold 2 .

[0163] In addition, the wireless base station 20 may have a coverage change prescribing function not only for a wireless cell controlled by a wireless base station 20, but also for a wireless cell adjacent to a wireless cell controlled by a wireless base station 20.

[0164] (Description of the principle of operation)

The following describes a specific example of a wireless resource management process of a wireless resource management system 1 in accordance with the present embodiment with reference to a flowchart in FIG. 7.

[0165] FIG. 7, the operations from step S100 to step S102 are the same as those of the second embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5.

[0166] In step S200, the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 determines whether the control information reported from the relay device 40 corresponds to a predetermined condition.

[0167] A case is described as an example in which the control information reported to the wireless base station 20 from the relay device 40 is such that the communication quality related to the communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30 does not correspond the required quality prescribed for the type of connection.

[0168] In this case, the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 determines whether the degree to which the communication quality does not match the required quality is large. For example, when control information is reported from the relay device 40 as an indicator with 4 stages, such as

- the quality of communication corresponds to the required quality (0);

- the quality of communication slightly violates the required quality (1);

- the quality of communication moderately violates the required quality (2); and

- the quality of communication greatly violates the required quality (3),

the wireless resource management unit 201 of the wireless base station 20 determines whether communication quality is severely compromised by the required quality (3).

[0169] When the degree to which the communication quality violates the desired quality is small, the wireless resource management unit 201 performs wireless resource allocation control similar to the control in the second embodiment (step S103).

[0170] On the other hand, when the degree to which the communication quality violates the required quality is strong, the wireless resource management unit 201 causes the coverage management unit 202 to change the coverage of the wireless cell.

[0171] The coverage control unit 202 controls coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station 20 or coverage of a wireless cell adjacent to a wireless cell managed by a wireless station 20 (step S201).

[0172] For the case in which the effect of improving the quality of communication only by controlling the amount of distribution of the wireless resource is limited, an additional effect of improving the quality of communication can be expected by controlling the coverage of the wireless cell as described above.

[0173] It should be noted that the process of determining whether the control information meets a predetermined condition (step S200 in FIG. 7) is not necessary to be performed by the wireless base station 20, but may be performed, for example, by the relay device 40.

[0174] In this case, the relay device 40 may inform the wireless base station 20 of the control information, which includes information indicating which process from the wireless resource allocation control process (step S103 in FIG. 7) or the wireless cell coverage control process ( step S201 in Fig. 7) must be executed in the wireless base station 20, based on the decision whether the control information executed in the relay device 40 corresponds to a predetermined condition.

[0175] As described above, in the wireless resource management system 1 in accordance with the present embodiment, the coverage of the wireless cell can be controlled by the coverage control unit 202 of the wireless base station 20. As a result, the wireless resource in the wireless base station 20 can be controlled to achieve the desired quality for each type of communication from one end to the other between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30, even when the communication quality is poor, for example, due to improper size or shape of a wireless cell.

[0176] <Fourth Exemplary Embodiment>

Next, a fourth illustrative embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the drawings.

(Description of the structure)

The structure of the wireless resource management system 1 in accordance with the present embodiment is the same as the structure of the wireless resource management system 1 in accordance with the second embodiment described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0177] FIG. 8 illustrates an example structure of a wireless base station 20 in accordance with the present embodiment. The wireless base station 20 in accordance with the present embodiment, different from the wireless base station 20 in accordance with the second embodiment, includes a wireless system switching prescription unit 203. The following describes mainly the difference from the second embodiment, while the description of the same part will be appropriately omitted to avoid duplication.

[0178] The wireless system switching instruction unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 instructs the wireless terminal 30 to switch the wireless system used by the wireless terminal 30 to perform wireless communication. The wireless system switching prescription unit 203 prescribes which wireless system should be used by the wireless terminal 30, for example, when the wireless terminal 30 supports two or more wireless systems, such as LTE, LTE-Advanced, UMTS, GSM (registered trademark), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), wireless LAN, WiMAX, CDMA2000 (registered trademark), HSPA, etc. Here, the wireless system assigned to the wireless terminal 30 may be indicated for each application (i.e., each service), each IP stream (e.g., each multi-path (MP) TCP IP connection with multiple TCP connection paths), or each wireless terminal (i.e., all communication of the wireless terminal 30). It should be noted that prescribing the wireless system for use by the wireless terminal 30 may be referred to as "traffic control".

[0179] As a specific example of a wireless system switching prescription, when the wireless terminal 30 supports LTE and UMTS, the wireless system switching station prescribing unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 may instruct the wireless terminal 30 using LTE (or UMTS) to hand-off between systems in heterogeneous wireless systems (handoff between radio access technologies) from LTE (or UMTS) to UMTS (or LTE). As another specific example, when the wireless terminal 30 supports LTE and a wireless local area network, the wireless system switching instruction unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 may instruct the wireless terminal 30 using LTE to perform traffic control on the wireless local area network (LAN). It should be noted that traffic regulation can use the access network discovery and selection (ANDSF) function, the standard specification of which is prescribed in 3GPP (for example, 3GPP TS 24.312, Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) Management Object (MO)).

[0180] The wireless system switching instruction unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 may instruct the wireless terminal 30 to perform a handoff (handover) to a mobile network of another mobile operator. For example, when the wireless terminal 30 connects to the mobile communication network A in such an environment in which the mobile communication network A is controlled by the mobile communication operator A and there is a mobile communication network B controlled by the mobile communication operator B, a wireless base station wireless system switching unit 203 20 may direct the wireless terminal 30 to switch (handoff) from the mobile communication network A to the mobile communication network B. Further, instead of the mobile communication network B, the wireless system switching instruction block 203 may direct the wireless terminal 30 to switch (hand-off) to the mobile communication network C (network sharing) shared between both the mobile communication network A and the mobile communication network B.

[0181] The wireless system switching instruction unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 may instruct the wireless terminal 30 to perform a handover (handover) to a cell of the same wireless system, but with a different frequency range, the wireless system being taken in a broad sense. In addition, the wireless switch system prescribing unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 may instruct the wireless terminal 30 to perform handoff to a cell of the same wireless system, but with a different frequency controlled by another wireless base station. In particular, it is possible to use dual connection (DC), the standard specification of which is defined in 3GPP (as dual connection (DC) (for example, you can link to the document "8.1 Architecture and protocol enhancements for Dual connectivity" in 3GPP TR 36.842 V12.0.0 ( 2013-12 ")). For example, in a dual connection (DC), the wireless system switching instruction unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 may switch in the wireless cell used by the wireless terminal between the wireless cell controlled by the main wireless base station (eNB main node: MeNB ) to the latter controls the wireless connection (Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection) with the wireless terminal and the wireless cell controlled by the secondary wireless base station (secondary eNB: SeNB). In particular, the wireless system switchover prescription unit 203 may prescribe switching:

- a wireless unidirectional channel (unidirectional channel MCG) using only the main group of cells (MCG), which is a group of wireless cells managed by the main wireless base station (MeNB);

a wireless unidirectional channel (SCG unidirectional channel) using only a secondary cell group (SCG), which is a group of wireless cells managed by a secondary wireless base station (SeNB); and

- a wireless unidirectional channel (unidirectional separation channel) using both the primary cell group (MCG) and the secondary cell group (SCG).

It should be noted that in the case of dual connection (DC), the wireless system switchover prescription unit 203 can preferably be provided in a main wireless base station (MeNB). But, a wireless system switching prescription unit 203 may alternatively be provided in a secondary wireless base station (SeNB).

[0182] (Description of the principle of operation)

The following describes a specific example of a wireless resource management process of a wireless resource management system 1 in accordance with the present embodiment with reference to a flowchart in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9, each of the processes from step S100 to step S103 and step S200 is the same as the process of the second embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5, or the third embodiment described with reference to FIG. 7. In the present embodiment, step S201 of FIG. 7 is replaced by step S300.

[0183] Referring to FIG. 9, in step S300, the wireless system switching instruction unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 instructs the wireless terminal 30 to perform the switching of the wireless system.

[0184] For example, the relay device 40 may evaluate communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device 10 and the wireless terminal 30, generates control information by evaluating whether the communication quality matches the required quality prescribed for the type of communication, and reports the control information to the wireless base station 20.

[0185] Then, upon receipt of the control information by the wireless base station 20, the wireless system switchover order unit 203 instructs the wireless terminal 30 to switch the wireless system when the degree of deterioration with respect to the desired communication quality is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. It should be noted that the wireless system switch prescription unit 203 may add a new wireless system instead of switching to a wireless system. The wireless system switching prescription unit 203 may select a plurality of wireless systems and each as a wireless system switching target for the wireless terminal 30 to perform switching to selected wireless systems.

[0186] The selection of multiple wireless systems, such as an LTE and HSPA system, can be applied to a technique using multiple radio access technologies, for example, carrier aggregation with multiple radio access technologies (MRCA) and the like. Carrier aggregation (CA) achieves the extension of the frequency range by linking multiple frequency blocks (component carriers) for the LTE system, each frequency block as a base unit has a bandwidth of, for example, 20 MHz (megahertz) maximum. In MRCA, many frequency blocks of radio access technology are combined for use.

[0187] The wireless base station 20 may be configured to determine whether to instruct the wireless terminal 30 to switch the wireless system using control information reported from the relay device 40. Alternatively, information as to whether the wireless terminal 30 should be instructed to switch the wireless system, and / or information based on which the wireless system should be used, may be included in the control information provided by the relay device 40.

[0188] The wireless base station 20 may also instruct the wireless terminal 30 to measure another wireless system (s) and to measure between radio access technologies. The wireless base station 20 can determine which wireless system should be used by the wireless terminal 30 based on a measurement result (measurement report) reported by the wireless terminal 30.

[0189] The wireless terminal 30, for example, can measure the wireless quality and / or traffic intensity of the wireless base station and / or access point (AP) of another wireless system (s), each of which the wireless terminal 30 can detect, or the wireless terminal 30 can receive wireless quality and / or traffic intensity in any way. The wireless terminal 30 may report to the wireless base station 20 a report on wireless quality and / or traffic intensity. Then, the wireless base station 20 selects a wireless system with good wireless quality or low traffic intensity to cause the wireless terminal 30 to switch to the selected wireless system. It should be noted that in this case, the wireless quality may be the received power and the desired ratio of the signal power to the interference signal measured in the section of the mobile access network (in the wireless section). For example, wireless quality may include at least one parameter from the received signal code power (RSCP), the received signal reference power (RSRP), the received signal strength indicator (RSSI), the signal-to-noise and interference (SINR) ratio signal to interference (SIR), Ec / No ratios (received energy per elementary signal (RSCP) / band energy density (RSSI)), received quality of the reference signal (RSRQ), etc. It should be noted that wireless quality may include propagation loss measured in a section of a mobile access network (in a wireless section). The traffic intensity may represent the load of the basic set of services (BSS) transmitted, for example, from an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (LAN).

[0190] As described above, in the wireless resource management system 1 according to the present embodiment, the wireless system switching instruction unit 203 of the wireless base station 20 is enabled to instruct the wireless terminal 30 to perform the wireless system switching to achieve the desired quality for each type of communication from one to the other end.

[0191] As described above, in accordance with each of the embodiments and examples regarding the “communication quality related to communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal”, the communication channel to be evaluated may include at least a portion of a section (i.e., a communication channel between a wireless base station and a content transfer device) different from a section of a mobile access network (wireless section) between a wireless base station and a wireless terminal, from communication channels connecting from one end to the other, a content transfer device and a wireless terminal.

[0192] In this document, disclosures of the aforementioned patent documents 1-3 and non-patent documents 1 and 2 are incorporated herein by reference. It is possible to modify / correct embodiments or examples within the entire disclosure (including the claims) of the present invention, and further based on their basic technical idea. In addition, various combinations or selections from the various disclosed elements (including each element of each claim, each element of each embodiment, each element of each figure, etc.) are possible within the scope of the claims of the present invention. Obviously, the present invention includes various variations and modifications that can be made by a person skilled in the art based on the entire disclosure, including the claims and technical ideas.

[0193] Next, the above-described embodiments are added (but without limitation).

[0194] (Supplementary Note 1)

A wireless resource management system comprising:

content transfer device;

wireless terminal;

a wireless base station that receives data transmitted from a content transfer device and transmits data wirelessly to a wireless terminal; and

a relay device located on a communication channel between the content transfer device and the wireless base station, wherein

The relay device contains:

a communication quality assessment unit that evaluates communication quality related to communication between the content transfer apparatus and the wireless terminal; and

a control information generating unit that generates control information for controlling a wireless resource allocation for a wireless terminal based on communication quality,

The wireless base station contains:

a wireless resource management unit that controls the allocation of a wireless resource for a wireless terminal based on control information.

[0195] (Supplementary Note 2)

A wireless resource management system in accordance with Supplementary Note 1, wherein the relay device or wireless base station further comprises

a communication type identification unit that identifies a type of communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal,

the wireless resource control unit controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the result of evaluating the communication quality using a criterion corresponding to the type of communication.

[0196] (Supplementary Note 3)

The wireless resource management system in accordance with supplementary note 2, in which the wireless resource management unit controls the distribution of the wireless resource belonging to the wireless base station in accordance with the result of comparing the communication quality with the required quality, which is determined for the type of communication.

[0197] (Additional Note 4)

A wireless resource management system in accordance with Supplementary Note 2, wherein the wireless base station comprises a coverage control unit that controls coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station in accordance with a result of comparing communication quality with a desired quality that is determined for the type of communication.

[0198] (Additional Note 5)

A wireless resource management system in accordance with Supplementary Note 2, wherein the wireless base station comprises

a wireless system switching prescription unit that causes the wireless terminal to switch the wireless system used by the wireless terminal in accordance with a result of comparing the communication quality with a desired quality that is determined for the communication type.

[0199] (Additional Note 6)

A wireless resource management system in accordance with any one of supplementary notes 1-5, wherein the communication quality assessment unit evaluates the communication quality using at least any of the following elements:

first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal;

a second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device; and

a third communication quality of a communication channel including at least a portion of a communication channel between the wireless base station and the content transmitting device.

[0200] (Supplementary Note 7)

The wireless resource management system in accordance with supplementary note 6, in which the communication quality assessment unit evaluates the communication quality by calculating the fourth communication quality between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal using both the first communication quality and the second communication quality.

[0201] (Additional Note 8)

The wireless resource management system in accordance with any one of supplementary notes 1-7, wherein the wireless resource management unit updates the target value of the fifth quality of communication between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal using the control information.

[0202] (Supplementary Note 9)

A wireless resource management system in accordance with Supplementary Note 8, in which the management information includes at least any of the following:

information indicating the quality of communication;

information indicating the result of comparing the quality of communication with the required quality, which is defined for the type of communication;

information indicating the target value of the fifth quality of communication;

information indicating the identifier of the wireless terminal or unidirectional channel;

information indicating the priority for the distribution of the wireless resource;

information to change the coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station; and

information directing the wireless terminal to switch the wireless system.

[0203] (Supplementary Note 10)

A relay device located on a communication channel between a content transfer device that transmits content via a wireless base station to a wireless terminal and a wireless base station, the relay device comprises:

a communication quality assessment unit that evaluates communication quality related to communication between the content transfer apparatus and the wireless terminal;

a control information generation unit that generates control information for controlling a distribution of a wireless resource of a wireless base station for a wireless terminal based on communication quality; and

a communication unit that reports control information to the wireless base station.

[0204] (Supplementary Note 11)

A relay device in accordance with Supplementary Note 10, characterized in that it further comprises

a communication type identification unit that identifies a type of communication between the content transfer apparatus and the wireless terminal.

[0205] (Additional Note 12)

The relay device in accordance with supplementary note 10 or 11, in which the communication quality assessment unit evaluates the communication quality using any of the following elements:

first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal;

a second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device; and

a third communication quality of a communication channel including at least a portion of a communication channel between the wireless base station and the content transmitting device.

[0206] (Additional Note 13)

The relay device in accordance with supplementary note 12, in which the communication quality assessment unit evaluates the communication quality by calculating a fourth communication quality between the content transmission device and the wireless terminal using both the first communication quality and the second communication quality.

[0207] (Supplementary Note 14)

Relay device in accordance with Supplementary Note 10, in which

control information includes at least any of the following:

information indicating the quality of communication;

information indicating the result of the comparison between the required quality, which is defined for the type of communication, and the quality of communication;

information indicating a fifth quality of communication between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal;

information indicating the identifier of the wireless terminal or unidirectional channel;

information indicating the priority for the distribution of the wireless resource;

information to change the coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station; and

Information for switching the wireless system for the wireless terminal.

[0208] (Supplementary Note 15)

A wireless base station that wirelessly transmits data transmitted from a content transfer device to a wireless terminal, the wireless base station comprises:

a wireless resource management unit that receives control information based on a communication quality assessment related to communication between the content transmission device and the wireless terminal from the relay device located on the communication channel between the content transmission device and the wireless base station, and which controls the distribution of the wireless a resource for a wireless terminal based on control information.

[0209] (Supplementary Note 16)

The wireless base station in accordance with Supplementary Note 15, in which the wireless resource control unit controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the result of the communication quality assessment using a criterion corresponding to the type of communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal.

[0210] (Additional Note 17)

The wireless base station in accordance with supplementary note 16, in which the wireless resource control unit controls the distribution of the wireless resource belonging to the wireless base station in accordance with the result of comparing the communication quality with the desired quality, which is determined for the type of communication.

[0211] (Additional Note 18)

A wireless base station in accordance with Supplementary Note 16, comprising

a coverage control unit controlling coverage of a wireless cell controlled by a wireless base station in accordance with a result of comparing communication quality with a desired quality that is determined for the type of communication.

[0212] (Additional Note 19)

The wireless base station in accordance with supplementary note 16, comprising a wireless system switchover order unit that causes the wireless terminal to switch the wireless system used by the wireless terminal in accordance with the result of comparing the communication quality with the desired quality that is determined for the type of communication.

[0213] (Additional Note 20)

The wireless base station in accordance with any one of supplementary notes 15-19, wherein the wireless resource management unit updates the target value of the fifth quality of communication between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal using control information.

[0214] (Additional Note 21)

A wireless base station in accordance with Supplementary Note 20, in which the control information includes at least any of the following:

information indicating the quality of communication;

information indicating the result of the comparison between the required quality, which is defined for the type of communication, and the quality of communication;

information indicating the target value of the fifth quality of communication;

information indicating the identifier of the wireless terminal or unidirectional channel;

information indicating the priority for the distribution of the wireless resource;

information to change the coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station; and

Information for switching the wireless system for the wireless terminal.

[0215] (Additional Note 22)

A wireless resource management method comprising:

evaluating communication quality related to communication between the content transmitting device and the wireless terminal; and

generating control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the quality of communication to report control information of the wireless base station; and

controlling, by the wireless base station, the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on control information.

[0216] (Supplementary Note 23)

A wireless resource management method in accordance with supplementary note 22, in which a relay device or wireless base station identifies a type of communication between a content transfer device and a wireless terminal, and

the wireless base station controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the result of evaluating the quality of communication using a criterion corresponding to the type of communication.

[0217] (Supplementary Note 24)

The wireless resource management method in accordance with supplementary note 23, wherein the wireless base station controls the distribution of the wireless resource belonging to the wireless base station in accordance with the result of the comparison in the relay device or wireless base station between the desired quality, which is determined for the type of communication, and quality communication.

[0218] (Additional Note 25)

The wireless resource management method in accordance with supplementary note 23, wherein the wireless base station controls coverage of a wireless cell controlled by a wireless base station in accordance with a comparison result in a relay device or wireless base station between a desired quality that is determined for a communication type and a quality communication.

[0219] (Additional Note 26)

The wireless resource management method in accordance with supplementary note 23, wherein the wireless base station instructs the wireless terminal to switch the wireless system used by the wireless terminal in accordance with the result of the comparison in the relay device or wireless base station between the desired quality that is defined for the type of communication, and call quality.

[0220] (Supplementary Note 27)

A wireless resource management method in accordance with any one of additional notes 22-26, wherein the relay device evaluates communication quality using at least any of the following elements:

first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal;

a second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device; and

a third communication quality of a communication channel including at least a portion of a communication channel between the wireless base station and the content transmitting device.

[0221] (Supplementary Note 28)

The wireless resource management method in accordance with supplementary note 27, wherein the relay device evaluates communication quality by calculating a fourth communication quality between the content device and the wireless terminal using both the first communication quality and the second communication quality.

[0222] (Supplementary Note 29)

A method for managing wireless resources in accordance with any one of supplementary notes 22-28, wherein the wireless base station updates the target value of the fifth quality of communication between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal using control information.

[0223] (Supplementary Note 30)

The wireless resource management method in accordance with supplementary note 29, wherein the control information includes at least any of the following:

information indicating the quality of communication;

information indicating the result of the comparison between the required quality, which is defined for the type of communication, and the quality of communication;

information indicating the fifth quality of communication;

information indicating the identifier of the wireless terminal or unidirectional channel;

information indicating the priority for the distribution of the wireless resource;

information to change the coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station; and

Information for switching the wireless system for the wireless terminal.

[0224] (Additional Note 31)

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program causing a computer, which is a relay device, located on a communication channel between a wireless base station and a content transfer device that transmits information content through a wireless base station to a wireless terminal, to execute a process comprising:

assessing the quality of communication related to communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal; and

generating control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource of the wireless base station for the wireless terminal.

[0225] (Supplementary Note 32)

The recording medium in accordance with supplementary note 31, containing a program further causing the computer to execute a communication type identification process that identifies a communication type between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal in the computer.

[0226] (Additional Note 33)

A recording medium according to supplementary note 31 or 32, in which the communication quality assessment process evaluates the communication quality using any of the following elements:

first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal;

a second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device; and

a third communication quality for a communication channel including at least a portion of a communication channel between the wireless base station and the content transmitting device.

[0227] (Additional Note 34)

A recording medium according to supplementary note 33, in which a communication quality assessment process evaluates a communication quality by calculating a fourth communication quality between a content transfer apparatus and a wireless terminal using both the first communication quality and the second communication quality.

[0228] (Additional Note 35)

A recording medium in accordance with Supplementary Note 31, in which the control information includes at least any of the following:

information indicating the quality of communication;

information indicating the result of the comparison between the required quality, which is defined for the type of communication, and the quality of communication;

information indicating a target value of a fifth quality of communication between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal;

information indicating the identifier of the wireless terminal or unidirectional channel;

information indicating the priority for the distribution of the wireless resource;

information to change the coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station; and

Information for switching the wireless system for the wireless terminal.

[0229] (Supplementary Note 36)

A non-transient computer-readable recording medium containing a program that causes a computer, which is a wireless base station, to execute:

a wireless resource management process that receives control information based on a communication quality assessment result related to communication between the wireless terminal and the content transfer device that transmits content via the wireless base station to the wireless terminal, and which controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the control information .

[0230] (Supplementary Note 37)

A recording medium according to supplementary note 36, in which the wireless resource management process controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the result of evaluating the communication quality using a criterion corresponding to the type of communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal.

[0231] (Supplementary Note 38)

A recording medium according to supplementary note 37, in which the wireless resource management process controls the distribution of the wireless resource belonging to the wireless base station based on a comparison result between the required quality that is determined for the type of communication and the quality of communication.

[0232] (Additional Note 39)

A recording medium in accordance with Supplementary Note 37 storing a program for causing a computer to execute a coverage management process that controls coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station in accordance with a result of comparing communication quality with a desired quality that is determined for the type of communication.

[0233] (Supplementary Note 40)

A recording medium in accordance with Supplementary Note 37 that stores a program for causing a computer to execute a wireless system switchover prescribing process that causes the wireless terminal to switch the wireless system used by the wireless terminal in accordance with the result of comparing the communication quality with the required quality, which is defined for type of connection.

[0234] (Supplementary Note 41)

The recording medium according to one of additional notes 36-40, in which the wireless resource management process updates the target value of the fifth quality of communication between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal using control information.

[0235] (Supplementary Note 42)

A recording medium in accordance with Supplementary Note 41, in which the control information includes at least any of the following:

information indicating the quality of communication;

information indicating the result of the comparison between the required quality, which is defined for the type of communication, and the quality of communication;

information indicating the fifth quality of communication;

information indicating the identifier of the wireless terminal or unidirectional channel;

information indicating the priority for the distribution of the wireless resource;

information to change the coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station; and

Information for switching the wireless system for the wireless terminal.

Claims (57)

1. A wireless resource management system comprising: content transfer device; wireless terminal; a wireless base station that receives data transmitted from a content transfer device and transmits data wirelessly to a wireless terminal; and a relay device located on a communication channel between the content transfer device and the wireless base station, wherein The relay device contains: a communication quality assessment unit that evaluates communication quality related to communication between the content transfer apparatus and the wireless terminal; and a control information generating unit that generates control information for controlling a wireless resource allocation for a wireless terminal based on communication quality, the wireless base station contains a wireless resource management unit that controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on control information, the communication quality assessment unit evaluates the communication quality using at least any one of the following: first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal; and the second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device. 2. The wireless resource management system according to claim 1, wherein the relay device or wireless base station further comprises a communication type identification unit that identifies a type of communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal, the wireless resource control unit controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the result of evaluating the communication quality using a criterion corresponding to the type of communication. 3. The wireless resource management system according to claim 2, wherein the wireless resource management unit controls the distribution of the wireless resource belonging to the wireless base station in accordance with the result of comparing the communication quality with the required quality, which is determined for the type of communication. 4. The wireless resource management system of claim 2, wherein the wireless base station comprises a coverage control unit that controls coverage of a wireless cell controlled by a wireless base station in accordance with a result of comparing communication quality with a desired quality that is determined for the type of communication. 5. The wireless resource management system of claim 2, wherein the wireless base station comprises a wireless system switching prescription unit that causes the wireless terminal to switch the wireless system used by the wireless terminal in accordance with a result of comparing the communication quality with a desired quality that is determined for the communication type. 6. The wireless resource management system according to claim 1, wherein the communication quality assessment unit evaluates communication quality by calculating a third communication quality between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal using both the first communication quality and the second communication quality. 7. The wireless resource management system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless resource management unit updates the target value of the fourth communication quality between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal using the control information. 8. The wireless resource management system of claim 7, wherein the management information includes at least any of the following: information indicating the quality of communication; information indicating the result of comparing the quality of communication with the required quality, which is defined for the type of communication; information indicating the target value of the fourth communication quality; information indicating the identifier of the wireless terminal or unidirectional channel; information indicating the priority for the distribution of the wireless resource; information to change the coverage of a wireless cell managed by a wireless base station; and information directing the wireless terminal to switch the wireless system. 9. A relay device located on a communication channel between a content transfer device that transmits content via a wireless base station to a wireless terminal and a wireless base station, the relay device comprises: a communication quality assessment unit that evaluates communication quality related to communication between the content transfer apparatus and the wireless terminal; a control information generation unit that generates control information for controlling a distribution of a wireless resource of a wireless base station for a wireless terminal based on communication quality; and a communication unit that informs the wireless base station of the control information, moreover, the unit for evaluating the quality of communication evaluates the quality of communication using at least any one of the following: first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal; and the second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device. 10. A wireless base station configured to connect through a relay device to a content transfer device and wirelessly transmit data transmitted from a content transfer device to a wireless terminal, the wireless base station comprises: a wireless resource management unit that receives control information from the relay device for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal, which is generated based on a communication quality assessment result related to communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal, wherein the communication quality is evaluated using at least least any of the following: first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal; and a second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device, wherein the wireless resource control unit controls the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the control information. 11. A method for managing wireless resources, the method comprises the steps of: evaluating, by the relay device, communication quality related to communication between the content transferring device and the wireless terminal, the relaying device is located on a communication channel between the wireless base station and the content transmitting device that transmits the content through the wireless base station to the wireless terminal; generating, by the relay device, control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the communication quality to inform the wireless base station of the control information; and control, by means of the wireless base station, the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal based on the control information, and in the step in which the communication quality is evaluated, the communication quality is evaluated using at least any one of the following: first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal; and the second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device. 12. A persistent computer-readable recording medium storing a program instructing a computer, which is a relay device, located on a communication channel between a wireless base station and a content transfer device that transmits content via a wireless base station to a wireless terminal, to execute a process comprising: assessing the quality of communication related to communication between the content transfer device and the wireless terminal; and generating control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource of the wireless base station for the wireless terminal, the communication quality assessment process evaluating the communication quality using at least any one of the following: first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal; and the second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device. 13. A permanent computer-readable recording medium storing a program instructing a computer, which is a wireless base station, configured to connect through a relay device to a content transfer device and wirelessly transmit data transmitted from a content transfer device to a wireless terminal to execute a process comprising : receiving control information for controlling the distribution of the wireless resource for the wireless terminal, which is generated by the relay device based on the result of the communication quality assessment related to communication between the wireless terminal and the content transfer device, wherein the communication quality is evaluated using at least any one of the following: first quality of communication between the relay device and the wireless terminal; and a second quality of communication between the content transfer device and the relay device, and managing the wireless resource allocation for the wireless terminal based on control information.

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